Star Wars Galaxy Edge – Could Character Meet and Greets Be Different?

Who’s your must see character? We all have one. For the DVC Duo, it’s Tigger for Nate and you can find Serena helping Eeyore search for his tail. Let’s all say it together, awww! Walt Disney World is known for their interactive character meet and greets, both in the parks and around the resorts. The clock is ticking down to the official opening of Star Wars Galaxy Edge, we’re finding out more and more everyday about the uber immersive land coming to both Disneyland and Disney World. Let’s prep our questions and seek out where and how the character meet and greets will work at the Black Spire Outpost on Baatu.

Bazaar Concept Art

Where’s the Best Place to Meet People?

A bazaar (market) of course! You always run into someone you know at the market, or at least someone you think you know. Black Spire Outpost is a hustling and bustling village market on Baatu filled with merchants, Star Wars characters, and of course Oga’s Cantina. Like any good bazaar it comes to life early in morning with merchants rushing to their stalls to setup their goods for sale

Bazaar Vendor Stall

Interacting in the Bazaar?

The rumor is first thing in the morning the bazaar would be relatively empty then as Hollywood Studios opens and guess flow in to Black Spire Outpost it would come to “life”. Every one of the merchants will have a script and when you engage with them, they have a variety of different responses around the backstory of Black Spire Outpost’s attractions. Some may even go as far to say they have to keep going because of a reason, like “I heard the first order is coming”.

The concept of characters “roaming” through an area is something Disney has been testing for over a year. Currently in the animation courtyard at Hollywood Studios there are Stormtroopers that are on patrol and speaking with guests. Depending on when you engage with them they may or may not stop for a posed picture. It’s is looking like this concept may be used with Star Wars Galaxy Edge.

Kylo Ren at Stars Launch Bay

How About Character Meet and Greets?

A lot of the Disney World character meet and greets are locations where you can get in line for an interactive experience and picture with a specific character. Rumor has it Star Wars Galaxy Edge will be breaking this model and having the character meet and greets be more “organic” where the characters will be traveling through land doing their daily “activities”. You may run into some in the cantina or the bazaar.

What is still unknown is if the more “organic” character meet and greets will be with more of the mid-level characters than the big names. To keep with the storyline of Black Spire Outpost, it would make sense to have the mid-level characters wandering around, over the big names as they are part of the attractions.

When Star Wars Galaxy Edge opens at Disney World it is expected that Star Wars Launch Bay will stay open in the short-term. We project that the character meet and greets with Chewy, and a few others will remain.

Rex from Star Tours

The One Known Stationary Character

What’s a bazaar’s known for, bartering! If you’re in the mood to haggle for some merchandise you may be able to at the Black Spire Outpost. Disney Imagineering is working on an animatronic that interacts with guests and even barters over merchandise prices. Nate’s ready to negotiate! The animatronic would offer a select few items.

All the details around the animatronic are still being finalized. We do know that the animatronic will be part of the land and interact with guests. What is still not fully known is if it will barter over prices. According to Jim Hill, this could change to not confuse anyone around the price of other merchandise throughout the land and Disney World.

Our Thoughts

Moving the character meet and greets in Star Wars Galaxy Edge to a more “organic” strategy would be awesome! Back in the day, the majority of the character meet and greets were set-up this way, even Mickey. We would like to see Disney return to this more unstructured relaxed format. One thing’s for sure, you better have your questions and autograph books ready, you never know who you may run into at Black Spire Outpost!